Butterflies and Hurricanes

After all the clapping, clanking and clanging died down

A crisp, wayward leaf let go of a tree branch 

and landed in my balcony

Like a tooth that hangs by a thread in a child’s mouth

It stayed still for a while, all by its lonesome 

It held its breath and waited 

On an empty marble tile, 

in a silent neighbourhood, 

in a hushed city, 

in a muted country, 

in a deserted world, 

in a lonely galaxy,

in an infinite universe

I’ve longed for silence the last few months

But this silence is heavy with the whispers of death 

It’s marred by the murky paws of a germ 

too minuscule to fathom 

I enjoy the solitude for a while

I hum a song or two, I laugh at an old joke

Maybe the earth is rebooting 

Maybe it was exhausted

It only needs to breathe 

So I look up at the clear blue skies 

And I see the stars twinkling 

and hear the birds chirping 

I begin to taste the magic of the evening 

As if it’s a crusty pie that’s waiting to be eaten 

And then I think of people 

Of all races, all genders, all faiths,

Now only known as patients

Mums, dads, grandparents, children

Who couldn’t meet their family 

as they lay dying 

Gasping for air on a hospital bed

And I feel a gaping hole in my chest

As I realise the earth decided to breathe 

by taking their breath away

Little by little

One by one

And it reduced us to a mere statistic we refresh every day

What’s keeping us safe is being away from everyone we love

All of us, united in spirit, in a stormy sea of limbo

And I sit there and fail at feeling happy 

So we wait — the leaf and me with baited breath 

On an empty marble tile, 

in a silent neighbourhood, 

In a hushed city, 

in a muted country, 

in a deserted world, 

in a lonely galaxy,

in an infinite universe